Machine for forming loops for supporting filaments of electric lamps.



J. T. FAGAN. MACHINE FOR FORMING LOOPS FOB SUPPORTING PILAMENTS 0P ELECTRIC LAMPS.

APPLICATION FILED 11.29, 19o9 7 980,767, Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

I 8 gHEBTfl-SHEET 1.

mineq'aea' J. -T. FAGAN.

MACHINE FOR FORMING LOOPS FOR SUPPORTING FILAMENTS 0F ELECTRIC LAMPS.

APPLICATION FILED JAILZQ, 1909.

Patented Jan; 3; 1911.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

MUM-

J. T. FAGAN. MACHINE FOR FORMING LOOPS FOB SUPPORTING FILAMENTS 0P ELECTRIC LAMPS.

APPLICATION mum JAN. 29, 1909.

980,767. Patented Jan. 3, 191 1.

6 BHEETE-SHBET 3.

WT-I-n ess es 7 6 Inv;n1bn

J. T. FAGAN.

MACHINE FOR FORMING LOOPS FOR SUPPORTING FILAMBNTS or ELECTRIC LAMPS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29, 1909. 980,767, Patented Jan. '3, 1911.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

J. T. FAGAN.

MACHINE FOB. FORMING LOOPS FOR SUPPORTING FILAMENTS OF ELECTRIC LAMPS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29, 1909 Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 64 in veizfor.

UNITED v STATS ATENT OFFICE.

JOHN T. FAGAI T, F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL ELECTRIC LAMP COMPANY, A CORPORATION 01E NEW-JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR FORMING LOOPS FOR SUPPORTING FILAMENTS ELECTRIC LAMPS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN T. FAGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in-the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Forming Loops for Supporting Filaments of Electric Lamps, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention is directed to mechanism for automatically forming the loops which. are used as supports for the filament in certain modern types of electric lamp. These metallic loops are of exceedingly fine wire which may or may not be metallic, and have heretofore been constructed by hand with considerable variation in the quality of the work done, according to the skill and experience of the operator.

It has been my pur ose to provide mechanism whereby these oops may be formed automatically without the necessity for any manipulation by an operator. and it has been a further object to provide such a mechanism as to require no attention on the part of the operator other than such general supervision as is usually had over automatic machinery.

The above objects and other desirable ad vantages it will be seen are attained by that embodiment of my invention described in the following s ecification with reference to the accompanyin drawings, in which;

Figure 1 is a top p an view of the apparatus exclusive of the reel holder from which the wire is supplied, the driving shaft being also removed for the purpose of permitting the operating parts to be more clearly shown. Fig. 2 is a' front elevation of the apparatus taken from the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail longitudinal section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1 illustrating the loop forming portion of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the more important part of the operating mechanism in a position in advance of that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 7 is a side elevation taken looking from the line 7-7 in Fig. 4, butwith the mechanism advanced to a further position. Fig. 8 is a detail elevation looking from the line 88 of Fig. 7 in the direction of the arrow. Fig.

Specification of Letters latent.

Application filed January 29, 1909. Serial No. 474,913.

Pat t d Jam-3, 1911- 9 is a perspective view looking from the inside of the machine showing the twisting mechanism and the stripping mechanism therefor. Figs. 10 and 11 are enlarged vertical sections at right angles to each other showing the structure of thegrippingjaws are respectively plan and side elevations of that portion of the apparatus by which the reel is manipulated during the feed of wire the loop formed by the apparatus.

The wires from which the loops are formed by this machine are as a rule of such very fine diameter as to' be more properly described by the word filament, but this expression will not be used for the purpose owing to the fact that the word filament has acquired a special meaning in connection with electric lamps and it is therefore not advisable to cause confusion b using a nomenuse the word wire, however, in describing the material worked up into the form of loops it must be borne in mind that the ar; ticle in question is light and of small diameter and mustbe handled in accordance with its character. This statement is necessary in order to make clear the delicate character of certain portions of the apparatus.

The apparatus as a whole is mounted on a single bed plate having journal boxes secured thereto in which is mounted an operating shaft A receiving rotary motion through the-medium of-a clutch device A and transmitting motion bymeans of a spur gear A to a cam shaft B also suitably journaled in hearings onthe bed plate. The wound ball of wire from which is supplied the material, is held on a spool C mounted in a rotatable fork C ournaled at the rear end of the bed plate. (See Figs. 12 and 13.) This fork is designed to rotate constantly as the machine is in operation for the purpose of giving the wire strand fed from the ball a twist in one direction. The purpose of this twisting action is in effect to compensate for the twist given to the strand during the formation of the loop, as will subsequently be described. The rotation of the holding fork C is secured by means of a driving rope C extending between the cam shaft B and a jack shaft C at the rear end of the base plate, which jack shaft has a beveled by which the wire is drawn forward and about the twisting device. Figs. 12 and 13' therefrom. Fig. 14. is an enlarged View of clature which mightbe con using. Where I gear G meshing with a similar gear C on a stem of the fork. The wire is led forward from the spool" through an intermediate guide D to a air of short guide tubes E, E held together y means of a-connecting yoke E at the forward end of' the machine.

These two guides and their connecting yoke -moved to one side, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4:, in order to clear the way for threadin the wire through the guide tubes. A suitab e spring pawl F is pivoted on the bed-plate for the purpose of retaining the said arm ]3 carrying the guide roll F out of operating position during the threading of the wire through the guide tubes. This is a mere convenience and is not essential to the effective operation of the machine.- The wire being threaded through the guides, as above described, and projecting a slight distance through the same is in position to be carried through the loop forming operation.

The specific operation below described includes a procedure wherein the end of the wire is caught by a pair of tongs carried by a shifting table and operated by suitable mechanism for the purpose of carrying the wire forward and drawing it around a peg in front of the guides and back again, so that the end of the wire is doubled on itself int-o a U-shaped bend, the peg being then given a quick twisting turn for the purpose of twisting the legs of the said U bend and forming a loop, this loop being subsequently cut from the main wire and stripped from the twisting peg, after which the entire operation is repeated. The loops produced are substantially of the shape shown in Fig. 14:. The gripping tongs G are, as above stated, carried by a shifting table H mounted on an oscillatory cradle J. The said table is held in a slideway preferably between anti-friction rollers J, as shown, on said cradle so that it may have a free backward and forward movement under the action of a cam 11 mounted on the cam shaft and a tensionspring H fastened to the bed plate; the cam pushing the table forward, the spring drawin it backward. If desired, an anti-friction ro ler H such as shown, may be carried by the table adjacent to the cam to receive the thrust of the latter. At the forward end of the table is mounted a transverse rock arm K, one extension K of which carries the gripping tongs and certain operating mechanism therefor, the other extension K being used in connection with an operating lever K", subsequently to be described, for giving the gripping tongs are mounted. This dropping movement is restrained, however, by

the arm a motion causing the gripping tongs to move vertically. The said rock arm K is.

the operating lever K beneath the end of which the other extension K of the rock arm passes. This operating lever is journaled on the base plate and has a vertical rocking motion, one .end of it being controlled by a cam K mounted on the cam shaft. The end K of the rockin arm, under this operating lever, is preferafily provided with an antifriction roller and is free to move back and forth beneath said lever in accordance with the backward and forward movement of-the shifting table, but it will be plain that whenever the cam controlling the operating leverforward movement of the shifting tables and the gripping mechanism as a whole. .A proper relation between these movements can, of course, be easily attained by the timing of the cams controlling the two movements. In addition to the forward and backward reciprocation and the vertical reciprocation, the g'ripping'tongs have a sidewise movement attained by the oscillation of the cradle J on which the shifting table is mounted. It will be observed that this cradle is pivotally mounted on the base plate and. has at the rear end thereof an extension J carrying an anti-friction roller bearing against a cam J 3 suitablymounted on the cam shaft. The said cam is on the side face of a disk in order that the sidewise shifting action may be achieved. This cam acts in opposition to a stiff leaf spring J secured to one of the journal boxes of the cam shaft and tending to throw the rear end of the cradle inward. It is obvious with the proper timing of this cam J with'relation to the two cams H, K previously mentioned as controlling the forward movement of the shifting table and the vertical movement of the rock arms carrying the gripping ton s, the desired path of movement of the sai tongs in any direction throughout the three dimensions of space may be achieved, and it will thus become possible in conjunction with certain mechanisms, subsequently to be described, for opening and closing the the gripping. tongs at the proper time will be best understood by reference to Figs. 3, 6, and 11. Referring particularly to Figs. 10 andgll, it will be seen that the tongs are pivoted in a vertical cross slot in the lower end of a spool L rotatably mounted in the end'of the rock arm K. The reason for" having this spool rotatable and the mechanism for accomplishing the rotation will be subsequently explained. Extending centrally throl-igh the spool is a vertically reciprocatable rod M guided at its upper end by a bracket member M secured to and rigid with the rock arm in whiclfthe spool is mounted. The said rod is under constant upward tension by reason of a coiled "spring M interposed between a collar M on the rod and the mechanism below. The lower end. of the rod has a transverse slot and each pivoted tong member has an arm projecting into said slot, the dimensions being such as to permit afree working movement of the tongs. The upward movement of the rod-will obviously draw the gripping members of the tongs closed and a downward movement of the rod will spread the gripping members apart.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 6 particularly, it will be seen that as the gripping mechanism is moved back and forth in accordance with the movement of the shifting table, the said gripping mechanism will operation it is preferable that the under face of the shelf should be provided with a stiff leaf spring M instead of presenting an.

absolutely unyielding surface to the end of the rod. This spring is retained in proper place by any suitable device such as the adjustable hook M and is given the proper inclination for the peculiar path of movement of the tongs sovas to determine their opening and closing movements at the proper points.

In addition to the gripping movement and the movement in the three dimensions of space above outlined, I desire to give the tongs capacity for rotation, since in accordance with the design of the particular mechanism here disclosed, it is desirable ,that a semi-rotation should be had during the formation of each loop. This desideratum arises from the fact that the end of the wire held by the tongs is, for the formation of a loop, led forward and around a vertical peg or pin N and back again along theline from which it was led, thus forming a U- shaped loop with the pin N in the eye of the loop. The securing of a semi-rotation of thegripping tongs as they travel around the pin with the'wire will prevent a bend or kink being permitted in the wire at the tongs by reason of the change of direction' of relative pull of. the wire on the tongs after 'thelatter has drawn the wire around L journaled on the rock arm and having a ratchet L secured thereto. A spring-pressed pawl L (see Fig. 1) mounted on an 'oscilla-' tory plate L engages said ratchet, the said oscillatory plate having a pin L engaging a slot in a reciprocatable horizontal slide bar L held on the side of the rock arm K carrying the gripping mechanism. The said slide bar is reciprocated by means of a lever L pivoted at one endthereof and journaled on the branch K 'of the rock arm, the said lever having its lower end riding against the side of a cam plate L secured to the base plate of the machine. The said cam plate is opposed in its action by a leaf spring L secured to the rock arm and bearing against the lever, and the said cam is so disposed that the movement of the slide bar L, by

which the pawl and ratchet transmit rotary motion to the tong rod, takes place when the shifting table H is at the forward end of its path of movement and the oscillating cradle J is moving to carry the tongs around the rotation of but 180 degrees as they pass around the pin, thus maintaining the direction of pull of the Wire always directly behind the tongs throughout their entire path of travel both forward and backward.

From the mechanism above described it will be seen that it is possible for the tongs in elevated positionto be opened, descend to the proper level and closed, grasping the end of the wire projecting from the guides, and to then move forward leading said wire around a pin and drawin it back parallel with the forward path of movement, permitting a perfect U-shaped bend in the end of the wire without any additional kinks at the tongs or elsewhere. If the tongs be now permitted to remain temporarily at rest, while holding the end of the wire, and

the pin about-which the bend is made he thenrotated more or less rapidly, the end of the wire and the body thereof will be twisted together to form a shank between the said pin and me tongs so that a permanent loop will be formed, the eye of the loop remaining on the said pin. I provide means for. accomplishing this purpose, as will appear below, and I further provide means for automatically cutting this loop and its twisted stem off from the main body of the wire after the loopis formed.

At this point I would call attention to the fact that the constant rotation of the yoke carrying the feed reel, mentioned in the beginning of the specification, is designed to compensate for the twist given the stock or main body of the wire during the formation of the twisted loop shank just described. 2

For the purpose of effectively rotating the pin on which the loop is formed, I preferably mount this pin on the end of a rotating shaft N which is journaled in an n right bearing block N in the forward end of the machine, the said shaft being disposed parallel with and approximately in alinement with the direction of feed of the wire. The said twisting shaft has a pinion N thereon meshing with a spur gear N which is also journaled in said bearing block and designed to receive rotation through the medium of a pinion N rigid therewith and meshing in a rack bar N slidingly mounted in the said block. The movement of the rack bar back and forth will cause a corresponding rotation of the twisting shaft in each direction, and the movement of this rack bar is attained by means of an oscillating lever N pivotally mounted on the frame and controlled by a cam N on the side face of a disk secured to the cam shaft, which cam is opposed in its action by a stiff leaf spring Nsecured to the frame. Obviously, by the last named cam, the twisting shaft may be given, a speedy rotation as soon as the U- shaped bend on the wire end is formed on the twisting pin N, which is, during the formation of the bend, held in an upright position as shown in Fig. 3. I so time the cam and so adjust the connections that, when the twisting action and formation of the loop is'completed, the twisting pin will be pointing vertically downward so that the formed loop may drop therefrom as soon as it has been cut from the end of the wire and the gripping tongs have released their hold. After the severance of the formed loop from the end of the wire IV and the stripping of the same from the twisting pin, the rack will be caused to move in the proper direction to restore the said pin to its upright position in time for the formation of the next loop. v

The mechanism for severing the formed loop from the end of the wire comprises a pair of vertically disposed knives O, O located on the opposite sides of the said wire more? as it emerges from the guides, each of these i knives being rigidly held on the end of a pair of bars 0, 0' controlled by a com mon disk 0 It will be observed that these bars lie parallel and side by sideso-that pins 0 projecting from the upper face thereof may enter slots in the said disk which is rotatably mounted between the bars. An oscillatory movement on thepart of the disk will cause the bars to move in opposite directions and this oscillatory movement is obtained by a reci rocating rod 0 pivoted to the disk and hel by a s ring 0 against the peripheral cam face the same disk member carrying the cam NF. The face of said disk is provided at the proper points with undulations (not shown) for operating the knives at the proper time. The tension of the spring 0 referred to will cause the knife bars and the knives carried thereby to resume their normal and separated position as' soon as the cam surface controlling them will permit. It was off stated above that this severance of the loop ing pin is occupying an inverted position,

so that the loop will normally fall from the pin without difliculty. In order, however, to insure the proper stripping of the loop from the pin, I have provided a strip per plate P pivotally secured to the-end of the twisting shaft and having a perforation in the toe thereof through which the twisting pin extends. The heel P of this stripper plate extends beyond the pivotal point and an outward movement of the heel away from'the shaft'will cause the toe of the plate to ride along the twisting pin so as to remove any loop that may be thereabout. The said heel is spaced apart from the body of the shaft to such an extent as to ermit the heel, during rotation of the shaft, to pass over a finger P on the end of an oscillatin arm P pivotally mounted on the same bloc N in which the twisting shaft is mounted. Sprin s of suitable construction hold the stripplng plate and the oscillating arm normally in operative position. A vertically oscillating lever P mounted on the bed plate and operated by a cam on the peripheral surface P of the same cam disk which, by means of the cam J controls the oscillation of the cradle, serves to operate the stripping plate at that moment when'the twisting pin, after having ceased rotation, is held in an inverted position and the loop is cut from thestock. After the loop has been severed and stripped from the twisting pin as described, the cam N controlling the rotation of the twisting shaft, then causes the said shaft to immediately rotate backwardly to its original position in which the twisting pin is directed vertically upward ready for the formation of a second U bend in the end of the wire stock preparatory to forming a.

second loop. The gripping tonstill held open by reason of the ressure 0 their operatin rod M against t e leaf six [ring M beneat1 the overhanging shelf moved, by the table on which they are supported, to a position immediately over t e end of the wire stock projecting from the guides. The cam K controlling the drop ping movement of the tongs then ermlts them to lower to the point where t ey are in position to grip the end of the wire, and this lowering movement simultaneously frees the operating rod from contact with the shelf above so that the tong. fingers are drawn together by the spring M controlling them, thus gripping the wire preparatory to a second loop-forming movement such as described above.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Mechanism for forming hope from stock, comprising a form and means for placing the stock about the form, means for securing relative rotation between the bent stock and the form, and means for giving axial rotation to the stock beyond the loop in the proper direction to relieve the tendency of the act of forming the loop to twist the body of the stock beyond the loop.-

2. Mechanism for forming loops from stock of the character described comprising means for holding a spool of the stock, a pin, gripping means for holdin the end of the stock, means for moving t e gripping means around said pin to form a U-bend in the stock, and means for giving the pin a rotation relative to the stock.

3. Automatic mechanism for forming loops from stock of the character described are then- .100 s from the stock of the character descri ed comprising gripping means for the stock, means for giving said gripping means a forward movement, means for givmg it a lateral movement and means for giving it a turning movement during the lateral movement, and means for g1vin it areverse movement substantially para lel to its forward movement and in a path adjacent thereto.

5. Automatic mechanism for forming 100 s from the stock of the character de- 561'] ed comprising gripping means for. the stock, means for g1v1ng said gripping means a forward movement, means for giving it a lateral movement and means for giving it a turning movement during the lateral movement, and means for g1vin it a reverse movement substantially para lel to its forward movement and in a path adjacent thereto, a pin located within the path of movement of the gripping means, and means for twisting said pin relatively to the stock.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

Witnessesr H. R.-SULLIVAN, J. M. WOODWARD.

JOHN T. FAGAN. 

